also breaking this morning, signs that the labor market, which has been stunningly strong for so long is now cooling. fed watchers and wall street very warily awaiting these numbers. i ll talk to acting labor secretary julie su for her take on the numbers and the strength of the u.s. economy. and later, more heat for an already weather-weary nation. over a dozen dead nationwide from the high temperatures. i have asthma, so the air quality is really hard on my lungs, and then with the heat on top, it s like having a meltdown all in one. when could we get some relief from the brutal and record-breaking heat? let s begin with the war in ukraine and the breaking news. we ve now confirmed that the u.s. will send cluster munitions to ukraine. these are large bombs containing smaller explosives inside them which then disperse and can kill in record numbers. these weapons are so dangerous that more than 120 countries including many u.s. allies have agreed not to use them, but
the bigger picture of jack smith s case? we re going to get into all of that coming up? also this hour, belarus, russia, where exactly is yevgeny prigozhin? the mystery surrounding the fate of russia s wagner group deepened after the president of belarus in a rare news conference said he was still in his hometown of st. petersburg more than a week after the rebellion that shocked moscow and the world as wechlt. and long-time gop megadonors launching ads to try to prevent the former republican leader are from retaking the white house in 2024. we begin this hour with the former president and walt nauta, his aide, in court. after two delays, trump s co-defendant in the classified documents case finally arraigned in court a few hours ago, pleading not guilty nearly a month after his boss. he faces charges of obstructs the investigation into the retention of classified documents. it s been a whirlwind 24 hours. on wednesday authorities unsealing new portions of the warrant t
around yevgeny prigozhin and his army of mercenaries who were until now believed to be exiled to belarus after the armed revolt in russia. keir simmons is in belarus. according to belarus s president, this is not the case after all. bring us up to speed here. reporter: well, that s right. there are two things happening right now. kind of twin track, if you like. one what we heard today. nbc news was one of the few international news organizations invited to the presidential palace in belarus. we have heard from the president of belarus. the other is those images that you showed of gold bars, stacks of dollars, of wigs, of fake passports, during a police raid on yevgeny prigozhin s home in st. petersburg. nbc news not able to verify those images, but they are all over russian media, suggesting an effort to discredit yevgeny prigozhin, just as here in belarus, as i mentioned, the president of belarus, aleksandr lukashenko asked about where he is, where this man, who he had do
of their son. we re going to talk to evan gershkovich s freshman year college roommate in just a few minutes. we ll talk about the person he calls a, quote, exceptional friend and journalist. plus, we have breaking news to share. the man accused of shooting and killing 23 people at an el paso, texas, walmart in 2019 has just been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences on federal charges and that is just his first round of sentencing. we re going to have the very latest for you any moment when we get our nbc news reporter who s there on site for us. we begin this hour at the site where republican primary race begins, that being iowa. right now former president donald trump is hitting the campaign trail in council bluffs as he continues to campaign and fund-raise. the republican leader writing in a lengthy statement last night that the doj is going after him and claiming that special counsel jack smith, quote, purposefully omitted the presidential records act. are quote,
he s testifying for for the first time. he could not say, for instance, that he never assaulted e. jean carroll when another court of law established that he did. you stand by it, trump, 100% yes, habba, do you deny the allegations. trump, i consider it a false accusation, he said. judge kaplan, that answer is stricken from the record. habba, did you ever instruct anyone to hurt ms. carroll. trump, i just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency. joining us now, msnbc legal analyst, she was inside that courtroom, lisa rubin. nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, and criminal defense attorney and msnbc legal analyst, danny cevallos. that was the defense asking donald trump all of three questions, one of which was stricken. it then went to the prosecution. tell me what happened then. reporter: katy, first of all, those three questions, two of the answers were partially stricken. i heard yeses and noes to those questions before donald trump attempted